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I know this blog entry is incredibly late, but better late than never, I’d say. I wanted to end up making an article about Dissidia 012’s performance on the PlayStation Vita sooner, but as circumstances were with my life, I didn’t really have the money to buy a Vita when it had first come out. Anyways, I just got a Vita recently and got to testing out my favorite PSP game. So, I have some impressions now on getting the game and DLC to work on the system, and to compare it to how it runs on the PSP.

First of all is getting the game onto the Vita system. It’s a fairly simple process, though it’s a bit trickier, if you want all of your DLC. The game appears on the Vita’s version of the PlayStation Store. You can get online, buy it, and then download it to your Vita’s memory card, so long as you have enough memory. Then, you just have to find the game in Live Area, the Vita’s ‘home’ screen.

If you want DLC, though, it’s not that simple. You cannot download DLC for PSP games via PS Store for the Vita. You have to use the PS3 Workaround method for that. What this means is that you need a PS3 system. Many games that aren’t compatible with the Vita’s PS Store are compatible through this workaround method. Basically, download your DLC, one at a time, to your PS3 system. Then, plug the Vita into your PS3 via USB Cable.

Use Content Manager on your Vita, which requires that your PS3 be connected to PSN, to find the DLC on your PS3 and copy it onto your Vita, which will just add the DLC files to your Dissidia 012 file on the Vita. I’m not sure why you can’t download DLC from the Vita Store, but for right now, you just can’t. You have to use the PS3 Workaround.

Once you have the game on the Vita system, it’s smooth sailing to get it to work. You’ll get a little “app” bubble for the game, just like a Vita or PS1 game, and you go to open it up. It opens and loads, just like it does on the PSP, and the controls are mapped in the same location.

As far as load times are concerned, they’re mostly the same as they were with the PSN version, running from a PSP Go or a Memory Stick. The only noticeable difference is getting to the title screen. While it takes about 35-40 seconds to get to it on a PSP system, it takes about 15 seconds to get there with the Vita.

The first thing you might need is your save data, if you’ve played the game on PSP, beforehand. In order to get this onto the Vita, you need to transfer your save data from your PSP to your PS3, and then use Content Manager to transfer that same save data from the PS3 to your Vita. I’m sure some of you have long save files that you wouldn’t wish to start over with once you get the game onto your Vita.

I’ll go into your options next. Basically, you can do everything here that you could on the PSP, plus a few more things. By holding against the front touch screen while the game is up, you’re given your Emulation Options. You have a few things in here, including Bilinear Filtering, Right Stick, Color Space (PSP), and Assign Touchscreen, Bilinear Filtering is the Vita utilizing it’s OLED Screen to enhance the picture of PSP games. It brightens colors and smooths out a lot of jagged edges, making the game look a bit crisper and cleaner.

Right Stick lets you map controls to the right analog stick. You can set either the Analog Nub, D-Pad, Right and Left on the D-pad, Up and Down on the D-pad, face buttons, L and R, or Select and Start to the Right Stick. The most-used option, especially in this game, is mapping the D-Pad to the right analog stick. This lets you control the camera during battle with the right analog stick, which feels more comfortable and on par with console games with controllable cameras.

Color Space (PSP System) returns the visual of the game to how it looked on the PSP system. This is mainly for people who don’t want to use the filtering and want to see the game, as it did on it’s original system.

Assign Touchscreen is a new feature, with the Vita’s 1.80 Firmware Update. It allows you to assign buttons to each corner of the touchscreen, so you can use it and the buttons for play with PSP games. You can assign the corners to any of the buttons, except for the Analog Nub and the L/R buttons.

The game looks are subject between various people. Since the Vita’s screen is bigger than that of a PSP, many say it looks stretched and blocky. However, with the Bilinear Filtering in play, it does look stretched, but a lot of the character models look very smooth and nice. Not all of the jagged edges are gone, though. There are still some jaggeds with Terra and Lightning’s skin. Overall, though, the game looks a lot better.

Playing the Vita definitely feels a little different than the PSP, since the buttons are smaller and in different locations. But, once you get used to the feel of the system, it gets really easy. What I can tell you, though, is that switching from a Vita to, say, a PSP 3000 or PSP Go, feels weird, because of the weight and shape of the different systems.

Even though the Vita doesn’t create it’s own Dissidia 012 folder in the Pictures section, you can still do screenshots from replays. They are automatically added to the Screenshots folder in the Vita’s Photo App. The only downside is that bilinear filtering is not put into play with the screens. They save in the PSP’s original resolution.

All in all, it’s the same game we all love, but looking a little crisper on the Vita’s OLED screen. It’s a hassle to get DLC on the game, and you can’t get DLC on it without a PS3, but if you can manage to get your game and save data onto your Vita, it adds a very fun game to your Live Area screen that will add many, many hours of fun.

Just as a side note, for those FF fans out there, PSP or Vita, you will soon be able to play Final Fantasies I-IX all on the Vita and PSP system soon. Final Fantasy III recently came out on PSP, as a PSN-only release. Using the PS3 Workaround (or just Download List as of next week or so), you can put Final Fantasy Origins, III, IV Complete, VI, VII, VIII, and IX on the Vita. You can include V if you use a PSP, but Vita’s can’t support FFV yet, outside of the EU regions. Counting the upcoming Final Fantasy X HD that is set for PS3 and Vita, FF fans can soon experience the first ten main series games, along with Dissidia 012 and Tactics on their Vitas.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I hope for new Dissidia news soon!
~Trent~

About

My name is Trent Berlinger, and a big fan of the Final Fantasy franchise. I’ve been following Dissidia ever since Square-Enix announced it back in Spring 2007, so I’ve decided to make a blog with updates for the game and the possibility of a sequel